San Fernando Valley : Lotto Pool at Deli Shares Half the Loaf

At the crack of dawn Thursday, Gina De Giosa received a call from her oldest son, Joe, who had just opened up the family deli to bake bread for the day and checked the winning numbers in Wednesday’s $58-million Lotto drawing.

“He said, ‘Mom, mom, we won the lottery!’ ” De Giosa said.

“But I didn’t believe him so I hung up on him.”

But Joe called back. Although he was barely able to speak in his excitement, he finally convinced his mother that it was no joke--a pool of 15 family members, friends and employees had just won half of the big jackpot.

De Giosa and her husband, Benito, owners of Italia Deli & Bakery in Agoura Hills, kicked in $5 to the lottery pool with their four adult children, three teen-age employees and seven friends last weekend when the jackpot hit the $50-million mark.

Despite their windfall, they labored as usual through an eight-hour day, making Italian sandwiches, greeting customers with small talk and accepting congratulations, before heading over to the lottery office in Van Nuys to claim their prize.

They will get about $1.9 million each, spread out in payments of about $95,000 a year before taxes for 20 years. Each will be separately registered with Lotto officials as winner of one-fifteenth of the jackpot, said Benito De Giosa.